ARLINGTON, Texas—Cover your eyes, everyone. This is going to be a little harder than we thought.

If this was the benchmark of what could be in the race to catch the big, bad SEC, the rest of the field was just lapped. And it’s just Week 1.

That was defending national champion Alabama flexing its muscle Saturday night, the team with the brand new defense, and same old nasty, physically overwhelming Michigan in the first litmus test after an offseason of everyone clamoring for someone to break the SEC stranglehold on the game.

That’s when Alabama and LSU meet in Baton Rouge for Round 3 of Everyone Is Chasing Us. The bar has been set.

“I would think,” Michigan coach Brady Hoke said, “we’re on the short end of the measuring stick.”

Actually, they were on the wrong end of a clubbing. But what did they expect? Teams can talk about knocking off the king of all pigskin, about finding a way to that elite level. Then they hit the field, and the carnage ensues.

If this was Alabama at its most vulnerable; if this was everyone’s best shot at the Tide with the uncertainty of nine new starters on defense and life without star tailback Trent Richardson, well, the rest of college football is in a whole lot of trouble.

Maybe we can just allow the SEC to secede from college football, take its Waterford crystal ball and go home. Because if any of you think anyone is beating Alabama or LSU—other than possibly another SEC team—you’re nuts.

Look, I know Southern Cal has a handful of potential NFL first-round picks on offense, and the Trojans can make it look fun and exciting. But at some point, you’ve got to line up and trade blows.

At some point, you have play Big Boy football at the line of scrimmage and gut out third and short or protect on third and long. You have to, in no uncertain terms, stop the train that’s headed your way.

This is what Michigan found out Saturday night in the most anticipated game for Big Blue since Michigan and Ohio State played that classic in 2006 for the right to lose by 27 to the SEC champion in the BCS National Championship Game.

They all say they can compete with the SEC in big games, but no one knows what it’s really like until they’re in the barrel and it’s 31-0 before you cross midfield—and well before the end of the first half.

“This team has the challenge of creating an identity of how they play,” Tide coach Nick Saban said. “The expectation we have and the standard we want to play to is about who you are.”

That’s the thing with the SEC. We can act like the meat grinder league is a fabrication of media hype, or easy non-conference scheduling or over-signing or any other nonsensical argument.

It’s about players and preparation. And right now, no one does it better than Alabama.

It’s more than the national championships—although two in three years (could be three in four but for Tim Tebow) is impressive enough—it’s a killer instinct Saban has created with his “organization.”

That’s why 2010 was so frustrating— and why it became the blueprint for what not to do this fall. The Tide was clearly the most talented team in the nation in 2010, yet lost three games when selfish goals became more important than team goals.

No wonder Saban was obsessive this offseason when declaring 2012 would not be 2010; that this Tide team simply would not let it happen. After the Massacre of Michigan, is there any doubt?

I get the feeling Alabama plays so hard, remains so focused in big games, because they play in fear of You Know Who. How else can you explain it?

The Tide had a substitution infraction on the first defensive series of the game—a miniscule five-yard penalty—and Saban nearly lost his mind on the sideline. After that, it was merely 20-something minutes of near perfection.

They’ve got four tailbacks—freshman T.J. Yeldon is clearly the best of the group— who can play for anyone; five offensive linemen who will play in the NFL and a brand spanking new defense of elite recruits who waited their turn to play.

And they’ve got Saban’s never-wavering, always-enveloping “process.” The standard of who you are, and where you want to be.

“This is just a starting point,” Alabama safety Vinnie Sunseri said. “It doesn’t set the tone.”